Creating vulnerability. A
fridge that puts milk on your shopping list when you run low. A safe
that tallies the cash that is placed in it. A sniper rifle equipped with
advanced computer technology for improved accuracy. A car that lets you
stream music from the Internet. All of these innovations sound great, until you learn the risks that this type of connect- ... MORE

from National Motorists Association.We predicted it would happen. A year after the Department of Homeland
Security (DHS) scuttled plans to build its own nationwide database of
vehicle license plate data, the agency is seeking bids from private contractors to provide the agency access to the same information. DHS canceled last year’s plan ... MORE

To combat drug trafficking, of course. The Justice Department has acknowledged constructing a database to
track the movements of millions of vehicles across the U.S. in real
time. The program, whose existence was first reported by The Wall Street Journal,
is primarily overseen by the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) to combat ... MORE

by Terrence Jeffrey.Big Brother wants to know your every move. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, part of the
Department of Transportation, published last week an "advanced notice of
proposed rulemaking" on "vehicle-to-vehicle communications." What NHTSA is proposing could begin a transformation in the American ... MORE

by Paul Detrick. In fall 2013, Seattle, WA, residents noticed mysterious white boxes installed on street corners throughout downtown Seattle. Their interest only grew when curious WiFi networks with the names of those street corners began to pop up on their mobile phones as available networks to connect to. The boxes and WiFi turned out ... MORE

by Steve Peacock.More evidence the government is not us. The federal government doesn’t just want the ability to track down your car; it wants to be able to track down your body as well. Just as details are emerging about a controversial, nationwide vehicle-surveillance database, WND has learned the federal government is planning an even ... MORE

by Rep. Ted Poe. It’s Tuesday morning. A citizen wakes up, writes emails and makes a phone call. The person has a meeting soon, so he pulls up Google Maps to figure out a route. He then hops into a cab, checks Facebook on his phone, texts his friend and plays ‘Candy Crush’ on his iPhone. After the meeting he heads to the office, logs on to ... MORE

by Nick Gillespie. It’s a telling coincidence that the latest scandalous revelation about the National Security Agency (NSA) is hitting the front pages just as the enrollment period specified by the Affordable Care Act (ACA, a.k.a. Obamacare) is getting started. Each of these things underscores different but related aspects of the virtually ... MORE

by Robert Krulwich. Whenever your cellphone is on, "They" know where you are, and I mean all the Theys — the spooks, the merchants, the drone pilots, the private detectives, probably even the Chinese. If you want your privacy, says artist/designer , you can go to the back of your phone, pry out the battery and break the connection, ... MORE

Big Brother has been outsourced. The police can find out where you are, where you’ve been, even where you’re going. All thanks to that handy little human tracking device in your pocket: your cellphone. There are 331 million cellphone subscriptions—about 20 million more than there are residents—in the United States. Nearly 90 percent of adult ... MORE

Not just the night has a thousand eyes. I work for a resource management agency. Last year, I attended a government-mandated class on the use of computers during work hours. The instructor pointed out that emails that leave our agency’s network are being scanned for content. Our Internet usage is also being monitored. What they are looking ... MORE

Warrantless cellphone tracking threatens your privacy. In January the Supreme Court unanimously ruled that tracking a suspect's movements by attaching a GPS transmitter to his car counts as a "search" under the Fourth Amendment. But because the majority opinion emphasized the physical intrusion needed to surreptitiously install ... MORE

Justice Dept seeks cellphone location information. Consumers love their iPhones, Androids and BlackBerrys. With built in GPS navigation, these handy little gadgets can point the way to the nearest gas station with a low price or the highest-rated restaurant within a few blocks. Results can be personalized based on the user’s location at any given moment ... MORE

Probable cause makes a comeback. The Supreme Court’s recent ruling overturning the warrantless use of GPS tracking devices has caused a “sea change” inside the U.S. Justice Department, according to FBI General Counsel Andrew Weissmann. Mr. Weissmann, speaking at a University of San Francisco conference called “Big Brother in the 21st Century” on Friday, said ... MORE